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Audio Post: Creating Soundscapes
for The Trial of the Chicago 7
By Patrick Birk
The Trial of the Chicago 7, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, recounts the prosecution of a group of anti-Vietnam War protestors known as the Chicago Seven. The film goes beyond the courtroom to explore the circumstances leading up to protesters clashing with police outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, featuring visceral scenes of police brutality that resonate today. Nominated for six Oscars, the film’s ensemble cast includes Sacha Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen and Eddie Redmayne.
Working out of Warner Bros. Sound in Burbank, supervising sound editor Renee Tondelli, and re-recording mixers Julian Slater and Michael Babcock, created Chicago 7’s gripping soundscapes. They talked with us to explain their process.
The courtroom dialogue has a rich, resonant quality to it, along with the reverbs. What can you tell us about that?
Tondelli: Our production mixer, Thomas Varga, started out with eight mics. But after the first day, he knew he needed more, and he planted them everywhere because there was so much going on in that courtroom. We tried to always use the booms because the natural sound in the room had such a lovely quality to it. As for the mics we selected, we used a bit of everything, and Julian did a lot to make the voices sound like they do.
Each actor had their own natural reverb depending on where they were in the room. Sometimes, lawyer William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) would be so angry that his voice would have this containment that would just explode. Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the prosecutor for the federal government, was constant; he was always at the same degree no matter what he did, no matter when he was talking. Each person had a temperament that Julian made a palette for. So it was really a case-by-case thing for all of us, especially Julian.
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